February 2018

I spent this past weekend in Kelowna watching some good old fashion junior hockey. I even had the chance to say hello to former Oiler captain Jason Smith, who’s now the coach of the Kelowna Rockets — I wasn’t thinking at the time, but I should’ve squeaked in an interview with him. It was a…

For Milan Lucic, our large adult son, the bad times are compounding these days and there doesn’t look to be any relief in sight. The veteran winger has now gone 27 straight games without a goal. It’s the longest such streak he’s ever had in the NHL outside of his rookie season in Boston. So the…

Milan Lucic is having a rough go of it right now. He can’t score. He isn’t being aggressive. He isn’t even adding much in the way of assists and it gets worse if we look for primary assists. He makes a ton of money. He’s signed for an eternity. And, as much as the coach…

On February 28th, 1990, the Edmonton Oilers and Los Angeles Kings combined to set a record for the most penalties in a hockey game with 86 infractions given out on the night. Once again, if you’re not following hockey historian Mike Commito on Twitter then you’re definitely missing out.

Ryan Nugent-Hopkins is skating with the Oilers and will return to the lineup in early March. When he comes back Todd McLellan should play him at left wing, and I’d start him with Connor McDavid. Moving Nugent-Hopkins to left wing makes sense for many reasons.

In light of the Oilers’ too-rare three-game win streak (against the Pacific Division no less, the guys that we’re built to beat, wahoooo!), I thought it would be fun to look at one of our other favourite types of victories over the last many years: the moral victory.

The Oilers looked to sweep their California road trip after getting swept on it a few weeks earlier. After starting strong in the first period, the Oilers lost it all in the second and couldn’t recover.

If there’s any reasonable argument that the kind of hit from behind that Evander Kane of the San Jose Sharks laid on Matt Benning of the Edmonton Oilers Tuesday at the SAP Center has a place in the game of hockey at any level, I haven’t heard it. Yet there it was, right in front…

There are many reasons why Kelly Buchberger is an easy choice to occupy the top spot on this Unsung Heroes list. Anybody who saw Bucky play knows what they are. His willingness to work harder than the next guy. His willingness to play a role, to step in and defend his teammates, even when it…